It's so wonderful when I get to write something positive here. A couple of congressmen have agree to sponsor the Public Domain Enhancement Act, also dubbed the the Eric Eldred Act after the guy who got the whole issue of the problem of copyright into the courts and thus public consciousness. Essentially what this bill does is rectify the current problem with our atrocious copyright laws. As it stands, copyright lasts for 70 past the death of the author and for 90 years in the case of corporate copyright holders. The reason this lengthy copyright was established was to preserve the monopoly on information that copyright offers and allows copyright holders to financially capitalize on their works.
The problem is that only a tiny percent of copyrighted works are financially viable. This means that literally hundred's of thousands of copyrighted materials are locked away from the public. This is undesirable because it squanders the fruits of our collective intellectual labors. It's especially bothersome with regard to early film and audio recordings that languish on decaying media and will be unrecoverable by the time the copyright on them expires (assuming no more extensions).
This argument for relinquishing ideas and information to the public domain isn't about piracy or trying to profit from other people's work. It strikes to the fundamental core of what it means to be a cultural species: our success, in biological and technological terms, can be solely attributed to our capacity for building on the ideas, work, and overall progress of our predecessors, like a ratchet. When ideas are locked away, there are no shoulders of giants to stand upon.
The Public Domain Enhancement Act fixes this problem by setting copyright to 50 years for all works. After that, those that want to maintain their copyright have to pay a very small tax, like $1 a year. This allows even the littlest person to keep their own copyright if they wish. If this copyright extension fee isn't paid for three years in a row, the copyrighted work then passes into the public domain for perpetuity.
I think this is perfect. Those big dogs who want to keep their copyright can, but the majority of work, for much of which the actual copyright holder is unknown, can pass into the public domain to serve as a springboard for further innovation or just plain exposure.
Of course there are other copyright alternatives for those who are aware of the benefits of free flowing information, as intuitive as it seems sometimes. The content of this site, for example, is copyrighted under the terms of a Creative Commons license and is intended to provide my thoughts, ideas, and knowledge for you to build on. All I ask is that you give me credit for the things I say (as I try to give credit to those who say the things I talk about) and that you don't use my stuff to profit from (as if you could). By making it legal for others to use my copyrighted material, I not only enhance my exposure to others but provide a point of progress for others to build on. We can only improve as a result.
I just hope this bill passes. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't, but who knows what kind of FUD Congress will buy into.
Posted by Nutrimentia at June 26, 2003 10:53 AM | TrackBack